Dennis Leon Duerre

Dennis Leon Duerre, 78, of Rocklin, CA, passed away on February 8, 2017. He will be dearly missed.

A celebration of life service will be held at 1 pm on Saturday, March 11, 2017 In Roseville, CA at CenterPoint Community Church located at 515 Sunrise Drive. All family and friends are invited to spend time with those that knew and loved Dennis.

Dennis was born in Bismark, North Dakota on July 6, 1938. He graduated from Arizona State University with a BSBA Degree in 1966.

Dennis & Verna Lee Lemke married on August 10,1960 in Loveland, Colorado. They spent a lifetime together and upon his passing counted 56 years of marriage. They were great partners to each other through the ups and downs of life. Verna credits his sense of humor as one of his best characteristics when things got hard. Dennis and Verna lived in North Dakota and Arizona before settling in Northern California.

Dennis leveraged his education and career experience as a draftsman, purchasing agent, buyer, operations expediter, and bank teller to build the premier Silicon Valley Anodize business (Applied Anodize) from its inception in 1978. Applied Anodize was a successful family owned business under Dennis' leadership with support from his wife Verna, and son Randy along with 20 additional employees. Semiconductor equipment manufacturers from around Northern California in the heart of Silicon Valley trusted him and the services his business provided. His vision and efforts truly had an impact on technology. He successfully ran the company for 20 years. He retired in 1998 and sold the business which is still operating today.

Dennis was an avid lifetime boater and enjoyed being on lakes whenever possible. He was a skilled draftsman and applied these skills on all aspects of life – from designing the Applied Anodize shop, to re-designing houses & boats, and optimizing construction projects whenever possible. He was excellent at finding ways to make things better and more efficient. Most of all – outside of work - he enjoyed spending any free time available with those he loved.

Dennis is survived by his wife Verna Duerre, brother Donald Duerre, son Randy Duerre, daughter in law Lisa (Elliott) Duerre and granddaughter Emily Duerre.
Dennis is preceded in death by his father Elvin M. Duerre, mother Bertha (Gilbertson) Duerre, sister Marilyn (Duerre) Lee, and his daughter Tammy Kay Duerre.

Dennis was a very giving and charitable man. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or The Shriners Children's Hospital. Both organizations were important to Dennis.